Cryptos increasingly attract mainstream attention

Mainstream institutional investors are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies and starting on Friday Paxos Trust Company will join the ranks as it offers trading in four major cryptos.

Paxos joins the likes of Goldman Sachs, which last month became the first regulated financial institution to provide the facility to trade in bitcoin futures in New York.

The big financial institutions are slowly warming to cryptocurrencies: Shutterstock

Paxos, which holds a New York banking licence, owns the crypto exchange itBit and now offers custody, escrow and over-the-counter trading services in bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash.

The Crypto King

Bart Smith, Wall Street’s so-called crypto king said in an interview on CNBC earlier this week that mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies was inevitable, but that many were waiting for regulatory clarity.

“Such clarity will allow institutions to come in more than anything else because institutions don’t like to invest into uncertainty. So we’re just taking the most conservative approach that we can,” he said.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has attempted in recent weeks to clarify its position – taking every opportunity to say cryptocurrencies are not securities and, therefore, do not come under its regulatory oversight.

Going through the roof

Institutional investors are preparing to enter the cryptocurrency market with a vengeance. They are generally long term investors and will be pumping billions into the market. Expect the top ten coins to go through the roof fairly quickly. The bulk of alt coins will soon follow.

“They are generally long term investors and will be pumping billions into the market. Expect the top ten coins to go through the roof fairly quickly. The bulk of alt coins will soon follow,” he said.

In an interview in March, Andrew Pritchard, of the The Easy Access Crypto Company’s 10x Growth Account told me – on behalf of Capital.com – that a bubble would form in cryptocurrencies only as institutional investors piled into the sector.

The institutional players were still on the sidelines, he said, but they would arrive.

Post written by Chris Wheal

Chris Wheal is editor of OpenLedger's news and features service. An award-wining business journalists himself, he runs a team of freelance journalists from across the UK and north America.